Radiographic features of a lateral extracapsular wire suture in the canine cranial cruciate deficient stifle

Radiographs of 74 dogs (84 stifles) presented with a cranial cruciate ligament rupture and surgically treated using a lateral extracapsular wire (LEW) were reviewed. A strand of orthopaedic wire was surgically placed caudally around the lateral fabella and through a predrilled hole in the tibial crest. At six week follow-up, the LEW was broken at least once in 26 of 33 stifles, predominantly in the area of the lateral fabella. In five stifles, the LEW had slipped off the fabella and was displaced distally along the gastrocnemius muscle. Six months after surgery, the LEW was often broken at several sites. LEW migration was rare. Osteolysis and sclerosis at the site of LEW penetration through the tibial crest occurred in about two-thirds of the stifles examined.